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Thursday, 8 March 2012

Cloth Diapers: How to fold a prefold

Now that pins and rubber pants are out and cute easy-to-use styles are in, cloth diapers are beginning to regain popularity. Reasons range from environmental to health to financial to "they're just plain cute!", with most parents embracing a combination of these factors as they ditch the disposables and move to cloth.

Many parents, however, remain wary of prefold diapers. Despite the drastic difference in cost (a dozen prefolds can be purchased for the price of approximately two pocket or all-in-one diapers), the ease of use of the latter often wins out.

After nearly five years of cloth diapering, I can say with confidence that our decision to use mainly prefolds (with a few pockets on hand for alternate caregivers and trips out) has been well worth it. The husband stuck with pockets for a while, but even he can now change a prefold as fast as he can change any other style of diaper. Despite heavy use as our primary diapers, our prefolds have held up far better than our backup pocket diapers have. They are indispensable when it comes to potty learning (sans cover). Prefolds are definitely our workhorse diapers, but just as cute as other styles thanks to our combination of PUL and wool diaper covers.

Folding prefolds doesn't have to be complicated. Below are our two go-to methods of folds, the Newspaper Fold and our own incredibly easy "straight and simple" method.

Method 1: Newspaper Fold

Lay the diaper on your changing surface.

Roll up the bottom edge.

Fold one side over the center piece of the diaper.

Fold the other side over and tuck into the first side.

Ready for baby!

Lay baby on the diaper.

Pull middle section up.

Fold back flap over front piece.

Snappi (or pin) one side...

...and the second side.

Pull the bottom fastener down and hook in place. Done!

Method 2: Straight and Simple

It doesn't get easier than this. While a fancier fold might keep in more of that newborn liquid poop or better fit certain shapes and sizes of babies, this one gets the job done for us.

Lay baby on flat diaper.

Optional step, depending on size of baby: Roll up bottom edge of diaper.

Pull up between legs.

Fold back flap over front piece.

Snappi (or pin) one side...

...and the other side.

Pull down bottom fastener and hook in place.

Optional step: Tuck in sides. This improves fit when using a diaper cover and also helps to contain poop.

See? Just as easy as a disposable. Slap a diaper cover on that baby and you're good to go!

25 comments:

hm, i just fold in thirds and place in the center of my cover, no pinning/snappi-ing. i have done the first one when going sans cover when trying to catch wet diapers immediately during diaper rashes though.

We used to do something similar to the newspaper fold when she was smaller. We called it the poop fold because it almost always caught everything. We're lazy people, though. We learned her poop schedule and only put her in it when we were expecting a poop. The rest of the time, we just folded the diaper in thirds and put it in a cover. That's all we do now, since her poop is now more solid and I don't worry about it leaking. I've never used snappis or pins or anything. I think I'm the laziest cloth diaper-er ever!

We use flats as our work-hourse diaper. They are even more inexpencive than prefolds, but tend to have more of a learning curve (might be too much for grandparents/daycare/and some dads). I love them because you can fold them many different ways, you only ever need one size (27x27 inch square)as you can adjust as you need to as baby grows and they are super easy to make yourself! You can even fold them as you would a prefold and lay them in a cover of your choice. :) They wash up and dry really nicely too, as its just one layer of cloth. The kite fold is by far our favourite and we use old fashioned pins (never have I jabbed a baby, lol) and either a wool soaker, or a pul cover. :)

I have used receiving blankets as flats in a pinch, but we didn't use them regularly (mostly because I hadn't even heard of them until after I bought our prefolds). Definitely an even more economical option, though!

I'm just getting ready to start my adventures in cloth diapering and was wondering about the Snappi - have you had any luck using the prefolds without a snappi/pins? I've been told that the cover will keepit in place but I'm very doubtful!! Any input would be greatly appreciated:-D

I personally never liked that method, but lots of people say it works great for them. Doesn't hurt to give it a try, anyway! I find the Snappi incredibly easy to use and just helps things stay in place better, but already two of the above comments say they've had no problems with eliminating the use of the Snappi/pins altogether.

I cloth diapered both of my girls by just folding the prefold in thirds and sticking it inside the cover. It really does work!

The only time it stopped working for me was when the velcro on the covers wore out, because the success of this method depends on a securely fitting cover. I especially liked diaper covers with gussets (extra cloth with an elasticized edge at the leg openings) because they helped to contain leakage. I also discovered that it's not that difficult to replace worn out diaper velcro either. :)

i prefer to unfold the back of the diaper to help it stay in place inside the cover... with a baby that moves alot the simply folding in three gets some movement inside the cover, but i NEVER used a pin or snappi... and h e s 6 1-2 months...

Great post! My son is 9 months old and I used nothing but prefolds for the first several months of his life and loved them. But about a month ago, when he started crawling and getting mobile, diaper changes became VERY challenging. Getting him to hold still while I put a prefold and cover on him, much less an AIO or pocket is so difficult! He flips himself onto his belly and tries to crawl away the second I lay him on his back, and cries and fights me until the diaper is on. I'd love to keep using my pf's though, they never leak!

I remember those stages! I was always so relieved when they passed. It was great when the kids would learn new skills, because letting them show the new skills off became our go-to diaper changing technique ("Can you clap? Yay! Clap clap clap!").

I'm so glad to hear this is a stage that it will pass! (and that I'll get to use my prefolds again!) That is a great idea to let them show off any new skills as a diaper changing technique (I've been turning on the ceiling fan to disract him, but that's just not interesting anymore ;) Thanks!

Great post! I'm really looking forward to cloth diapering Titus :o) We plan to go pre-folds and covers. Can you share with me the links where you buy yours prefolds and covers, or names/brands to look for? I have no clue where to start or what a good price is! Thanks!!

I prefer wool diaper covers though, especially around the house. I knit my own. I have a couple different ones I purchased and was never terribly fond of, but the ones I make work great (and are really easy to make, too). Wool pants over the prefold are also great, since the pants do double-duty as diaper cover and clothing, eliminating the need for a third layer altogether.

Just adding my thoughts/experience to this comment stream. We went with green mountain's prefolds (greenmountaindiapers.com) as they got the best reviews on the diaperpin.com and because of their sizes they can just be folded in 3rds (simple simple) and will fit perfectly in the bummis covers without having to do that extra fold down. I bought snappis, etc... with 1st child and found we never used them easily. The simpler the better for us and we are now doing the same with child #2. Bummis covers when applied correctly (actually COVERing) were as effective if not much MORE effective than disposables in catching poop, newborn or otherwise. For Bummis covers velcro tabs need to be folded back but are much more flexible in getting a good fit than snaps. Bummis super brites have a gusset on leg which can be beneficial for thinner thighs or when switching sizes. We bought 2 sizes (and then later a few extra large covers) and it would have cost us around $300 for everything. Compare that to the several thousand dollars spent in disposables over a couple years with ONE child. I'm using the same diapers on child #2. Really though, parenting does come down to sanity often. Best advice given to me: focus on breastfeeding and then later you can try the cloth diapering.Cloth diapering (the dry method) is a no-brainer during the newborn poop stage as everything is completely washable. And whether you chose to cloth diaper or not, those zippered wetbags (theslingsisters.com) are the most used item as wet, poopy clothing can go straight in them next to the change table. Cold rinse, hot wash. Done. We like Country Save detergent here in Vancouver, B.C.Hope that is helpful adding ideas and resources to this discussion.Cheers, Sandra

oh - you can buy cheaper prefolds but soakability is something worth paying for, unless of course you are going the elimination communication (EC) route which can also be called diaper free (not the best name for it though).(=Yay green mountain prefolds! Sandra

I have prefolds from green mountain diapers and I LOVE them! They are the best. I would never buy prefolds from anywhere else. I'm kicking myself for not buying flats from them too, but I bought my flats before I found them.

Thanks for this post, I just got given a bag of 50 (!) prefolds, used, but in nearly perfect condition. I've been using what I guess is a tri fold and putting covers over, but I'm going to get some snappi's or pins and try the newspaper fold b/c some of my covers are pretty big and the prefold ends up hanging down near his knees if my son is running around a lot. Which is constantly is!